US deficit-cutting effort ends

The Republican and Democratic leaders of a 12-member congressional “super committee” are set to declare defeat in a joint statement to be released after three months of talks failed to bridge deep divides over taxes and spending.After a year of bruising budget battles, it is another sign that U.S. lawmakers are too entrenched to compromise on the tax increases and benefit cuts that budget experts say are needed to set the countrys finances on a stable path. The panel’s failure will cement notions of a dysfunctional Washington among voters and investors already disenchanted with the brinkmanship that brought the country to the edge of a first-ever debt default in August.Lawmakers likely will not return to the problem until 2013 at the earliest as they shift their attention to the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.Budget skirmishes will continue over the coming months.Democrats will try to extend short-term economic stimulus measures, such as enhanced unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut, that they had hoped to roll in to any super committee deal. Analysts say the economy could slide back toward recession if they expire as planned at the end of the year.Republicans will scramble to shield the military from $600 billion in automatic spending cuts that are triggered, beginning in 2013, in the absence of a deal.